Search - Willie Nelson :: Souvenirs

Some essential cuts -- plenty of filler. Cardboard YES! Fib

Gino Nathansaiopoluos | Fargo, ND | 10/10/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Have you seen that commercial for Fiber One? Cardboard NO! -- Fiber YES!! They tell us. (Manager tells customers).. Well what does this have to do with a CD review? This Cd has alot of cardboard (Filler--songs that label could get cheaply from WN)---and very little Fiber (Songs that are gems and are hard to find elsewhere--or are new)....



Here's the GREAT part----6 songs that are very HTF on CD in one place currently -- well unless you pick up the very expensive "It's Been Rough and Rocky Traveling" set from the Bear Family Germany. For example--Willie's first killer version of Nightlife in the 1950s. WONDERFUL. Also the original Rainy Day Blues--Misery Mansion--Man with the Blues--and my personal favorite WN Penned song--The Storm was in my Heart.. and finally--What a Way to Live. THE CD IS WELL WORTH IT FOR THESE GREAT TIMELESS TUNES......



BUT-- The rest of the two CD set is chock full of filler--tunes available everywhere else (for a penny or two on Ebay). Even worse disc two is that bootleg horrible 'tin' sounding version of famous Willie tunes--Always on my Mind for example--but there's no Columbia Record Versions here.....These are dreadful--the sound sounds like a personal tape recorder did the job and this must be a BOOTLEG-------you can find these versions on budget labels since the 90s..... AAARGH. Ditch this disk. I love WN--and this is unfair to him. I bet he doesn't know this exists and is being touted as his music. The rest of the filler are old recordings available on every budget label desperate to get the rights to something of Willie's. They've been around since the 70s on tapes-and records-and you can pick em up elsewhere on Ebay etc. They are fine old WN tunes--not contemporary WN--and they do fill in his catalog and show how this genius started in Nashville.



I gave it 3 stars. Should be 3.5. Well worth it for the oldies. Those six great gems listed above. But those and no more. If you have WN & David Coe -OUTLAWS you have these tunes--or Willie and David, or Willie and Friends on Plantation Records. Otherwise pick up this CD and enjoy them for the first time. This CD is for completists or those lacking these tunes--but NOT the casual WN fan or the FAN with a GREAT collection already--they'll have these."